A review by bratatouille
If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This is the dark academia shit I am looking for. It is gripping and performative and beautiful in its self awareness. If you’ve ever read The Secret History, this is better. If you haven’t read it, don’t. This is better. I devoured this book in less than 24 hours and clung onto every word. It’s got a lot of Shakespeare in it but you don’t need to know shakespeare to get the book, it’s just what the characters use. The grit of this story creeps up on you eerily comfortably; as if you’re in a pot as it boils. It isn’t gruesome or terrifying. It’s romantic, tragic, violent, and so, so, human. The entire book I was utterly enraptured but in a stone faced all-consuming kind of way and in the last few chapters I was bawling and howling because the culmination of everything is too much to handle at once. I’m buying a hard copy.
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